The US congress has approved a bill that could allow citizens of some countries, mainly from Eastern Europe, to enter the US without being required to apply for visas in advance.

Bulgaria was among the countries listed in the bill, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.

The bill included new border security measures, as well as provisions to ease the inclusion of Eastern European countries in the list of 27 countries in the US Visa Waiver programme, DPA said as quoted by mediapool.bg.

The final version of the law is expected to be sent to the White House for presidential approval in the next few days.

After US president George Bush signs the bill, the changes will come into force and the US state department and homeland security department will decide which countries fit the new visa waiver programme criteria.

Bush said that the potential candidates were Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and South Korea.

Among the main criteria for the inclusion in the visa-free programme was the number of refusals of visa applications, mediapool.bg said. If refusals exceed 10 per cent of all applications, the visa system would remain in force. Bulgaria’s rate was 17.5 per cent.